Retired commander: Lord West of Spithead said Russian espionage had soared to a ‘worrying’ level

Russia has deployed a fleet of spy trawlers off the British coast to intercept military communications, one of Britain’s most senior retired commanders said yesterday.

Lord West of Spithead said Russian espionage had soared to a ‘worrying’ level as president Vladimir Putin ordered more acts of ‘provocation’.

Equipped with hi-tech surveillance, the converted fishing boats have been seen in the international waters of the North Sea by Nato aircraft.

Lord West, a former First Sea Lord, said the Cold War tactic was designed to gain intelligence on Britain’s nuclear missiles and warships.

He said: ‘It was quite a tense business during the Cold War and now it is winding up again and it is very worrying. They seem to have... increased espionage, which raises tension.’

Lord West spoke out as Moscow mobilised the country’s entire Northern Fleet to full combat readiness.

In a show of strength, Putin deployed 45,000 troops, more than 56 warships and submarines, and 110 aircraft for training across the country and into the Barents Sea – dwarfing Nato military drills which will be held off Scotland next month.

Lord West, a military grandee, said the five-day drills were a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to a similar Nato operation announced by Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday.

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Britain and 11 other Nato countries will contribute to the Joint Warrior exercise designed to send a signal to Moscow in the face of continued aggression – but with a force strength of less than a third.

The operation – which was hailed by the Government as one of the largest land, air, and sea training exercises run in Europe – will feature just 12,000 military personnel.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the exercise, involving 58 warships and submarines, 50 aircraft and 3,000 land forces would show the world how ‘powerful’ Nato was.

Lord West said of Putin’s mobilisation: ‘It is clearly a knee jerk reaction to the fact we are about to do that exercise… and it raises escalation.

Lord West of Spithead said Russian espionage had soared to a ‘worrying’ level as president Vladimir Putin (pictured) ordered more acts of ‘provocation’

In a show of strength, Putin deployed 45,000 troops, more than 56 warships and submarines, and 110 aircraft for training across the country and into the Barents Sea

'Their conventional forces were incapable of mobilising quickly a few years ago and that has changed.

‘It is all very worrying as Putin is very unpredictable and is not obeying the norms of international order.

‘Russia has nuclear weapons and they believe they can be used for war fighting and that is hugely dangerous and means we are just a step away from the destruction of the globe.’

The spook ships sent by Moscow can intercept ‘voice transmissions’ up to 200 miles, with RAF Lossiemouth and Coningsby understood to be two of their targets as Russian Bear bombers fly close to UK airspace.

The ships, known within Nato as AGIs, or Auxiliary Intelligence Gathering ships, eavesdrop on UK air bases and alert Soviet aircrews by secure communications so they know when the Typhoon crews from the Air Reaction Alert force are taking off.

A senior military source said: ‘It would appear from our intelligence that they are working in support of Soviet bombers which have been seen off the east coast and as far south as Cornwall and simply record our reaction to these events.’

The spook ships sent by Moscow can intercept ‘voice transmissions’ up to 200 miles, with RAF Lossiemouth (pictured) and Coningsby understood to be two of their targets

At least one vessel has been spotted off the west coast of Scotland where Nato will hold their major exercise next month.

The Russians tried to monitor amphibious war games in the past and will sit in international waters monitoring communications traffic.

In the past three weeks, Nato P3 Orion spy planes from the United States and Norway have reported six AGIs, adding to concerns that the Soviet activity is part of a planned maritime and air operation against the UK.

The source said: ‘While they look like fishing vessels they are packed with ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) and make no secret of their presence, all they want is to sit and test our reaction times and collate communications.

‘The problem is that while we managed to deal with them in the 1980s by jamming their electronic ‘listening’ field, they had updated their systems with much greater capability and as long as they sit in international waters we can do nothing.’

Scrambled: A Typhoon jet seen taking off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire at 4.30pm, shortly before Russian planes were intercepted last month

Lord West added: ‘They are very capable trawlers. There are lots of things the Russians want to know and they do go to try and find it out.

‘There is much more provocation from Russia. Putin does like to watch what Nato are doing as he is worried about it and sees it as an offensive alliance.’

The Russian move is the latest in a series of military ‘cat and mouse’ incidents as tension with the West soars to the highest level since the Cold War stand off in the 1980s, when Soviet spy ships sat off the UK coastline.

Britain’s decision to scrap the Nimrod maritime spy plane has left the RAF with little capability to monitor Soviet maritime movements and has instead relied on Nato allies to help.

The source added: ‘The sighting of a periscope was very concerning and highlighted our lack of capability.

‘Next month we will have support from Nato aircraft that will mount anti-submarine patrols as we launch a major exercise off the west coast of Scotland.

‘It will test our amphibious capability while the RAF fast jets will protect the landings and the Army will mount helicopter air assaults across south west Scotland, but we know the Soviet spy trawlers are already sat off the north west coast.’